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The former CEO of Minneapolis schools said Friday that he found what he was looking for in a plan authored by Heath Morrison, superintendent of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district in North Carolina since July 2012.

“I looked around for outstanding examples of 100-day entry plans. It was the best,” Mills said Friday.

“I took his plan as a foundation and adapted it and modeled it to mine.”

When he arrived in Charlotte, Morrison wrote that he would address “perceived deafness and distrust by seeking out stakeholders of all views and listening carefully to their concerns.” He also outlined a step-by-step evaluation process in the plan presented to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg district.

Mills used Morrison's exact language in his 100-day plan.

“I will address this issue of perceived deafness and distrust by seeking out stakeholders of all views and listening carefully to their concerns,” says Mills' Manatee County plan.

Mills cites Morrison's plan as the “foundation” for his own on the last page of his plan, posted on the Manatee district'a website this week.

Indeed, the documents are remarkably similar, outlining the same action plans and goals in the exact language used by Morrison — National Superintendent of the Year in 2012.

Mills has recently taken the helm of a district plagued by financial issues and fractured public trust since the resignation of former Superintendent Tim McGonegal, who revealed the existence of a major budget deficit in September.

After Mills was chosen as superintendent on Feb. 20, the former military man and educator was praised by board members and the community as the best candidate to pave the way for a district-wide culture change based on transparency and accountability.

As Mills was preparing his blueprint for those moves, school district spokeswoman Margi Nanney said she contacted the Charlotte-Mecklenburg district on March 7 to get permission to adapt Morrison's plan to Manatee.

A March 7 voicemail from Morrison's assistant, played for the Herald-Tribune, gave Mills permission to “use anything he needed from the entry plan.”

Nanney said Mills told board members during his interview process that he would be using Morrison's plan. “I took the areas that I thought needed to be personalized and then used his framework and his model,” Mills said.

The Manatee plan is nearly identical, including blocks of verbatim text in the opening and closing pages.

One expert said the situation warrants concern.

“Having permission does not make it OK. Because it doesn't make it yours,” said Kelly McBride, a senior faculty member at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg. McBride has worked with newsrooms and creative agencies to expose plagiarism.

McBride called the practice “intellectually dishonest.”

“If he has identical paragraphs and identical sentences, that's clearly plagiarism,” said McBride.

McBride said that Mills should have indicated at the beginning of his plan that it was Morrison's, so as not to deceive the public.

“This guy should know better,” McBride said.

By Friday afternoon on the district's website, Manatee officials attributed the entry plan to Morrison on the plan's cover page.

Entry plans are common for new superintendents to share with their district, said Kitty Porterfield, a spokeswoman for the American Association of School Administrators.

Places like the Broad Superintendents Academy, a program that has developed educational leaders such as Morrison, helps superintendents develop such plans.

“They are becoming more and more common because more and more superintendents are realizing how important it is to establish relationships with all stakeholders in the community,” Porterfield said.

She said the adoption and borrowing of good practices is hardly unusual in education, though her association does not have an entry-plan template for leaders to use.

“Yes, there are common practices, and I'm sure if you laid 10 plans out next to each other, you would find a lot of the same practices,” Porterfield said.

“Would you find the same text, that's a different question.”

The plan calls for a five-prong approach, evaluating management, district leadership, academic performance, district culture and stakeholder trust.

It calls for board retreats, identifying personnel to serve on a transition team, and taking steps to evaluate the competency of senior leadership.

<p><em>MANATEE COUNTY</em> - When Rick Mills was named superintendent of Manatee schools in late February, he pledged to enact a 100-Day Entry Plan.</p><p>The former CEO of Minneapolis schools said Friday that he found what he was looking for in a plan authored by Heath Morrison, superintendent of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district in North Carolina since July 2012.</p><p>“I looked around for outstanding examples of 100-day entry plans. It was the best,” Mills said Friday.</p><p>“I took his plan as a foundation and adapted it and modeled it to mine.”</p><p>When he arrived in Charlotte, Morrison wrote that he would address “perceived deafness and distrust by seeking out stakeholders of all views and listening carefully to their concerns.” He also outlined a step-by-step evaluation process in the plan presented to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg district.</p><p>Mills used Morrison's exact language in his 100-day plan.</p><p>“I will address this issue of perceived deafness and distrust by seeking out stakeholders of all views and listening carefully to their concerns,” says Mills' Manatee County plan.</p><p>Mills cites Morrison's plan as the “foundation” for his own on the last page of his plan, posted on the Manatee district'a website this week. </p><p>Indeed, the documents are remarkably similar, outlining the same action plans and goals in the exact language used by Morrison — National Superintendent of the Year in 2012. </p><p>Mills has recently taken the helm of a district plagued by financial issues and fractured public trust since the resignation of former Superintendent Tim McGonegal, who revealed the existence of a major budget deficit in September.</p><p>After Mills was chosen as superintendent on Feb. 20, the former military man and educator was praised by board members and the community as the best candidate to pave the way for a district-wide culture change based on transparency and accountability.</p><p>As Mills was preparing his blueprint for those moves, school district spokeswoman Margi Nanney said she contacted the Charlotte-Mecklenburg district on March 7 to get permission to adapt Morrison's plan to Manatee.</p><p>A March 7 voicemail from Morrison's assistant, played for the Herald-Tribune, gave Mills permission to “use anything he needed from the entry plan.”</p><p>Nanney said Mills told board members during his interview process that he would be using Morrison's plan. “I took the areas that I thought needed to be personalized and then used his framework and his model,” Mills said.</p><p>The Manatee plan is nearly identical, including blocks of verbatim text in the opening and closing pages.</p><p>One expert said the situation warrants concern.</p><p>“Having permission does not make it OK. Because it doesn't make it yours,” said Kelly McBride, a senior faculty member at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg. McBride has worked with newsrooms and creative agencies to expose plagiarism.</p><p>McBride called the practice “intellectually dishonest.”</p><p>“If he has identical paragraphs and identical sentences, that's clearly plagiarism,” said McBride.</p><p>McBride said that Mills should have indicated at the beginning of his plan that it was Morrison's, so as not to deceive the public.</p><p>“This guy should know better,” McBride said. </p><p>By Friday afternoon on the district's website, Manatee officials attributed the entry plan to Morrison on the plan's cover page.</p><p>Entry plans are common for new superintendents to share with their district, said Kitty Porterfield, a spokeswoman for the American Association of School Administrators. </p><p>Places like the Broad Superintendents Academy, a program that has developed educational leaders such as Morrison, helps superintendents develop such plans.</p><p>“They are becoming more and more common because more and more superintendents are realizing how important it is to establish relationships with all stakeholders in the community,” Porterfield said.</p><p>She said the adoption and borrowing of good practices is hardly unusual in education, though her association does not have an entry-plan template for leaders to use.</p><p>“Yes, there are common practices, and I'm sure if you laid 10 plans out next to each other, you would find a lot of the same practices,” Porterfield said. </p><p>“Would you find the same text, that's a different question.”</p><p>The plan calls for a five-prong approach, evaluating management, district leadership, academic performance, district culture and stakeholder trust.</p><p>It calls for board retreats, identifying personnel to serve on a transition team, and taking steps to evaluate the competency of senior leadership.</p><p>The Herald-Tribune was unable to reach Morrison for comment Friday.</p>